Nang Wah Nu, a lower house MP representing the Shan Nationalities Democratic Party (SNDP), has called on the government’s Union Peace-making Work Committee, the Myanmar Peace Centre and the Shan State Army- South (SSA-S) to work together to stop the fighting around Kunhing in south-central Shan state and to provide humanitarian relief to IDPs in the area.
The Shan MP sent letters urging a truce following a series of clashes between the SSA-S and government forces over the weekend when residents of Peinnay, Weinphe and other nearby villages were forced to flee their homes.
“A clash broke out west of Peinnay at around 10am on 12 October and was still continuing the following morning,” she said. “Many locals were forced to flee their homes. Some of them went into hiding in the jungle while others took shelter in the nearby towns of Kunhing and Kali.”
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Nang Wah Nu said a unit of about 100 soldiers from the Burmese army launched an attack on an SSA-S outpost in Lonwine on 30 September, then another attack on a drug rehabilitation centre on 10 October, followed by an attack north of Peinnay on 11 October.
Many IDPs are currently being sheltered at Buddhist monasteries in Kunhing and Kali. Nang Wah Nu said their numbers were still being counted.
Despite signing state and union-level ceasefire agreements with the government last year, the SSA-S say that they have clashed with the Burmese army at least 130 times since then.
